Unlocking building performance data

The Building Data Exchange is a platform to unlock one of the largest unexplored datasets in the built environment.

The Building Data Exchange has been created to stimulate innovation and bring together the digital and built environment communities to work together and create data-driven solutions, which deliver greater certainty to whole-life building performance, productivity and wellbeing.

Find out more about the BDX

Hear from the people behind the Building Data Exchange. Find out more about the data and why we built the platform to make the data available to everyone.

Want to see the Building Data Exchange in use? Watch the video from our recent Hackathon event to see how the platform can be used to inspire innovative new solutions for managing building performance.

Scotland's Housing Expo

Scotland’s Housing Expo in Inverness was a high profile event developed to showcase innovative sustainable housing that includes a variety of design ideas and technologies contained within one site. The project, completed in 2010, comprises 26 completed plots of individually designed low energy homes. The BPE study was undertaken on eight dwellings: four of these were social rented homes and the remaining four dwellings were owner occupied, sold under a shared ownership scheme. The project examines the need for energy systems and building design and fabric to be intrinsically linked. Additionally the usability of heating systems and controls should not be overlooked and kept as simple as possible. Over- complicated ‘eco-bling’ should be avoided. Even systems that appear straightforward to designers can be complicated for users.

Dungannon Passivhaus

This scheme of five homes timber framed homes is certified to Passivhaus Standard and achieved Level Four of The Code for Sustainable Homes. A mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system is used to meet the necessary ventilation levels in an efficient manner. This is the first phase of the study. The client commented that the project needed more hand holding and attention to detail during construction than an ‘ordinary’ project to reduce thermal bridging. The building services approach to the dwellings has been considered as not appropriate for other dwellings of a similar specification. There are a number of lessons learned relating to the services approach and overall the services strategy was probably over complicated for this type of dwelling. See also Phase 2 450080.

Marks and Spencer Cheshire Oaks Store

Cheshire Oaks is Marks & Spencer's second largest premier store, carrying the full product catalogue, and their third ‘sustainable learning store'. The aim of sustainable learning stores is to provide a bank of knowledge and experience in the sustainable practices surrounding the design, construction, commissioning and operation of buildings. Overall there have been relatively few technical issues with the operation of its systems. This is reflected through the fact that the annual energy consumption of the building is well below the designer’s estimates. Where there have been teething problems, they have mostly been quickly resolved. The POE process itself was key to ensuring that the performance of the various systems was reported back to the relevant party in a timely manner. The wider lessons for industry that can be gained from the experiences at Cheshire Oaks are that the successful operation relies on having a clear end to end strategy for the building’s performance which all parties should be signed up to. Taking a building from its original concept to a fully operational building has many steps along the way, and things can go wrong at any of these stages if the requisite focus isn’t given to the in-use performance.

Operational Evaluation of Graham Head Office Building

The GRAHAM Head Office is a three storey sustainable low energy building 12 miles west of Belfast. The client was involved throughout the entire process of the design and was also the main contractor for the project. The building has an A rated EPC rating and scored a design stage BREEAM Excellent rating. The accommodation consists mainly of open plan office space with a mix of cellular offices and meeting rooms. The building maintains stable indoor temperatures throughout the working day and overnight and at weekends/holidays. This stability indicates that the high levels of thermal mass in the concrete pillars and ceilings is having a positive effect on maintaining comfortable temperatures. One of the key challenges in the BPE project has been collecting and analysing energy consumption data. This is investigated in the report.

Become a member

Becoming a member of the exchange will give you access to reports and data to help you develop new innovative approaches for the built environment. You'll also be the first to hear about new reports and site features as the Building Data Exchange grows. It's free and open to all.

Where the reports come from

The data in the exchange comes from Innovate UK's Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) programme - a four year activity to analyse how well real buildings perform, from schools to apartments, supermarkets to offices, health centres to houses.